3:48
- culture
- May 20, 2019
12 famous TV finales revisited
With the HBO series ending Sunday, a look back at how other shows wrapped.
3:48
If you were a fan of \"The Sopranos\" and saw this finale live, then odds are you'll never forget the Sunday night it aired. In the last episode, \"Made in America,\" Tony (James Gandolfini) is nearing the end of his violent reign as boss of New Jersey and loose ends are being tied up. In the final scene, the four members of the immediate family plan on meeting at a diner like old times. With \"Don't Stop Believin'\" blasting on the jukebox, it seems like an ordinary family dinner could play out, or something more sinister could occur. And then, as Tony's daughter, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), makes her way into the diner, the screen turns black.
The ending was so shocking that thousands of HBO subscribers thought their cable went out that night and called the network to find out what went wrong.
Though series creator David Chase has never given a clear answer about how to interpret that moment, including whether Tony was killed, he has made a few comments over the years since. He told USA Today, \"If he didn’t die that night he’s going to die very soon. And the problem is the same: there are the number of minutes in life and they go like this. They’re gone. And you don’t know when it’s coming. That’s all I wanted to say.\"
In another interview, he further explained the ending, saying that he wanted to convey \"the idea of how short life is and how precious it is. The only way I felt I could do that was to rip it away.\"
\"Lost\" was a series steeped in mystery, and fans hoped that in the finale, some of the zillions of questions raised over its six seasons would finally be answered. The final scenes split the audience, and there is still debate as to what happened. However, those who were upset were incensed. Co-creator Damon Lindelof has since shot down one popular theory (no, the characters weren't dead, he said) and acknowledged a regret he has from that time.
\"One of the biggest mistakes that [co-showrunner] Carlton [Cuse] and I made was going radio silent right after the 'Lost' finale,\" Lindelof told Quartz. \"We had been so accessible, and then suddenly we weren’t. If we had been out in front of it right after that finale aired, I’m not sure it would have changed people’s reaction to it, but it looked like we were hiding. We weren’t but that’s what it looked like.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/lilly-holloway-lost-abc-jef-180802_hpEmbed_2x3_384.jpg\")
In an almost universally beloved ending to an equally beloved show, the \"Breaking Bad\" finale left us with so much resolution and hope. After Walter White (Bryan Cranston) betrayed and left Jesse (Aaron Paul) to be captured, kidnapped and tortured for who knows how long, the drug kingpin helps his former sidekick escape in a heroic, somewhat redeeming fashion. In the process, White is shot and killed but not before he squashes old beef, leaves his family with his remaining fortune and gives Jesse his freedom.
The world watched with baited breath as it was finally revealed how Ted (Josh Radnor) not only met the kids' mother (Cristin Milioti), but how things ended up over the years. Sadly, fans were not all that pleased to find out the show killed off the mother some years later and that the real ending had Ted back together with Robin.
\"How I Met Your Aunt Robin\" and other spoof titles were tweeted out after the finale. Even the daughter tells Ted that his entire story was about Robin, who is now divorced from his best friend Barney. It was an odd twist that left fans feeling a bit cheated.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/tv-show-gty-jpo-190516_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Throughout \"Mad Men,\" Don Draper (Jon Hamm) was a man of mystery and in the final scene of \"Mad Men,\" he's depicted finally getting a moment of peace, having fled his life and responsibilities in New York City to meditate on a cliff in California. As a bell dings and he breathes deeply, the advertising genius turns his mind to — what else — work. The next thing we see: the famous Coca-Cola commercial, \"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing,\" which we're to believe Draper created.
The reaction was mixed. \"The people who find that ad corny, they're probably experiencing a lot of life that way, and they're missing out on something,\" creator Matthew Weiner reportedly said in an interview with A.M. Homes. \"I don't think there's enough empathy right now in the world.\"
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